Sprinter planners look to hospital board for support

ESCONDIDO -- The North County Transit District is trying to get
the Palomar Pomerado Health board to support the Sprinter, the
east-west rail line project that has divided activists and
residents of the communities the train would connect.

An engineer from the transit district presented plans for the
Sprinter to the seven-member hospital board and its staff Monday
evening, trying to drum up support for the hotly debated rail line
set to be completed in December of 2005.

The $352 million project will consist of a passenger train
running between Oceanside and Escondido, on a rail line parallel to
Highway 78. The railway will end a few miles from Palomar Medical
Center, and the transit district says the train -- combined with a
bus or shuttle -- could give some hospital employees an alternative
way to get to work.

The district's pitch to the hospital board, along with a handful
of other local community groups, is its latest jab in a fight for
public support of the Sprinter. The rail line has drawn cheers and
jeers from local residents, and the transit district is trying to
persuade school boards, hospital directors, rotary clubs and other
influential community organizations to back the train despite a
recent wave of vocal opponents.

"We're trying to sell this service to the community," transit
district engineer Michael Boraks said of his pitch to the board.
"The hospital board has a lot of leaders, and they have the ability
to help get the public excited about this service."

The district asked to present its plan to the board, said
Michael Covert, Palomar Pomerado president.

Local boards have little official influence on plans for the
Sprinter, but Boraks said the project needs support from community
leaders to become a success and stop the opposition.

And that opposition has been fierce.

A group of San Marcos residents concerned that the train will
cut through their neighborhoods has circulated fliers slamming the
Sprinter. The Vista City Council, which filed suit in 1997 to try
to stop the project but dropped the suit the following year,
recently demanded more information about the project. And the San
Marcos City Council unsuccessfully tried to get the state's
attorney general to investigate claims that the rail line would
violate civil rights laws by disproportionately affecting
low-income, minority neighborhoods.

The board took no vote on Sprinter support, and most hospital
board members had little to say about the project Monday night.
Pomerado's Covert said he supports the project and might push for a
bus or shuttle to get people from the Sprinter stop to the
hospital.

"I personally think it's a good idea and will make it easier for
some hospital employees to get to work," Covert said. "If there was
enough interest in some kind of shuttle, I'd be willing to talk
about some way to get people to the hospital from the station."

Board Chairman Alan Larson said he wished the district would
extend the rail line so that it stopped closer to the hospital.
Boraks said an extension might be possible, but not for several
years.